The Xiaomi Mi MIX is a concept product, so we can't really recommend it. But it's also a glimpse into what the future of smartphones looks like.
Key Features
Dual Sim, Nano-SIM, GSM + GSM
16 Megapixels Camera with Flash
Android 6.0 - Marshmallow
6.4 Inch Display,1080 x 2040 pixels
Internal Memory 128 GB, 256 GB, available phones
6 GB RAM
Review
When Iron Man recruits Spidey in the movie Captain America: Civil War, he shows him clips of himself on what seems like a phone that’s all screen. That’s science fiction in 2016. Whereas, the Communicator shown in Star Trek, shown before many of us were born, however, resembles the modern smartphone closely. We don’t have either of these devices in real life, but we’re getting there, and the Xiaomi Mi Mix is amongst the smartphones that lead the charge.
Sure, the Mi Mix isn’t the first phone of its kind. Sharp did this, with the Aquos Crystal. But to its credit, Xiaomi has taken things a step further. Sharp used a thick chin to fit the proximity sensor, eliminating only the earpiece. On the Mi Mix, the chin is as small as possible, housing only the front camera. This makes the phone feel like it’s all screen, and that’s exactly the idea. But does all this work?
roximity Sensor
I cannot say the same about the proximity sensor, though. Instead of an actual sensor, Xiaomi uses ultrasound software to determine proximity. So, the phone tries to determine algorithmically, when the display needs to switch off while you’re on call.
In practice, this didn’t really work well. I have, on multiple occasions, opened unwanted apps while on call, or turned on the loudspeaker without wanting to.
The design language on the Mi Mix is a double-edged sword. I can poke holes at almost every aspect, yet I like it. Starting with the negatives, the ceramic and glass construction means the first time you drop this phone is most likely the last time you’ll use it.
To be fair, the glass-like feel of the ceramic body makes it feel more fragile than it is. In theory, ceramic is quite strong, but the real trade-off is in the bezel-less display, which leaves it really prone to impact. In addition, ceramic materials can break pretty easily when dropped on their corners, and while I haven’t dropped the Mi Mix, it’s edges and corners may well be its weakest links.
Moreover, the ceramic body is incredibly slippery and prone to fingerprints. I struggle to pick it up off a desk even after using it as my primary phone for a week now. It’s also big and heavy. In fact, at 209 grams, the Mi Mix is one of the heaviest smartphones today, and its large form factor makes it even more unwieldy.
All of the above is probably why Xiaomi calls this a concept device. There’s still work to be done to make a device like this available to the mass market.
That said, you can’t deny that the Mi Mix looks good. Virtually absent bezels make the display feel like it’s floating. The light shines off the ceramic in a way that can give any phone a run for its money. It doesn’t just photograph well, it turns heads when you’re using it in public.
Eliminating the bezels has allowed Xiaomi to make a phone that is as large as the iPhone 7 Plus, but with a display that is a full-inch larger. That’s the whole point with its 91.3% screen-to-body ratio. The Xiaomi Mi Mix gives me hope that phones can be compact yet, and I truly hope Xiaomi can make one of these in the 4.7-5-inch range.
Performance
Concept phones generally don’t perform very well, but with a fully clocked Snapdragon 821 SoC, Xiaomi’s goal is to cater to its geeky fan base in every way possible. The SoC is only about 10% more powerful than the Snapdragon 820, but Xiaomi’s MiUI seems pretty well optimised here.
In regular usage, the Mi Mix achieved Google Pixel-like smoothness, which is the best I can say for an Android phone today. It doesn’t skip a beat when launching apps, and takes a second or so only when opening heavy games, like Injustice: Gods Among Us or Asphalt 8. I haven’t used a Xiaomi device this smooth since the Xiaomi Mi 3, which was the phone that put Xiaomi on our radar. Interestingly, all this is achieved even though the Mi Mix’s processor never really reaches its 2.35GHz clock speed.
Xiaomi’s decision to fit a FHD display on this phone pays off, driving up frame rates during games as well. It can render 720p graphics at 60fps, but drops the frames to between 20-30 fps on 1080p. It is possible to get the Mi Mix to lag, but it takes some doing.
Camera
The weakest link of this smartphone, like most Xiaomi phones this year, is its camera. The 16MP Omnivision OV-16880 sensor has 1 micron pixel size, and combined with Xiaomi’s camera algorithms, it doesn’t do very well. It’s not a flagship class camera at all, and is pretty much meant for the casual shooters.
While low light photography suffers from a lot of noise and lack of details, the same also appears on most other conditions. You don’t buy this phone for its camera. Period.
The display is almost never the hero of a device, except in the case of the Mi Mix. You may question the company for not opting for a QHD display for this one, but having used it, I vouch for the choice. The 1080p panel saves battery, puts less load on the GPU when running games and heavy apps, reduces costs and hence the price, and still manages to offer a good viewing experience with a 362ppi screen.
